The Week What willSpain do ? That is the question of uppermost interest at this moment . Peace means a Carlist uprising ; the prolongation of the war means the bombardment of Cadiz , is the sententious way in which one Spanish statesman sums up the situation . ( And between the horns of this dilemma Sagasta and his ministers are in fear and trembling seeking to make such choice as will result with least injury to themselves and the country . But the government will doubtless find it more difficult to retire than to remain in office , for no one is likely to accept the responsibility of correcting the mistakes and repairing the losses of the Sagasta administration . He will find that having led the country into war he must be the one to sue for peace and accomplish it with or without a revolution . Senor Sagasta s troubles have only begun . On Monday the premier betook himself to the palace and presented to the queen regent the resignations of himself and the members of his cabinet ....

The Nation s Trust There are many things in our national life which do not comport with the idea that in a practical sense this country as a nation is devoutly religious ; but in moments of great concern , when the hearts of this people are thrilled with the universal appreciation of some surpassing blessing , beyond the ken of mortals , how quickly do they turn in thanksgiving to the Almighty as its source and giver ! Last Sunday in the churches of this country , repreisenting every denomination , there was one universal ; prayer of gratitude for the providential care which ihad so marvelously preserved our forces in battle , and that peace might soon brood over the nations and Avar s tumult and carnage cease . But to us it seems as though the most expressive exhibition of the reverential spirit which forms so large a part of the American character was enacted upon the deck of the battleship Texas that fateful Sunday morning off Santiago , while yet the smoke of battle covered the ...

A Lesson in Logic Not long ago reports came from London that the English people were eating no bacon these days but that exported by Canada ; the razor-back hog was having his innings , and . so far as could be seen was likely to stay in the game indefinitely , for he was the kind of meat the people long had sought and sighed because they found it not . The other day a traveler writing from Liverpool spoke of the preference given to Canadian butter over much that was ibrought into the British markets , and a recent report : from our own authorities , indicated that while American exports of cheese were steadily diminishing , Canadian cheese was steadily growing in popular favor in the old world . From a Canadian paper of date July 7 we clip the following : The Ontario Agricultural college at Guelph has had over 15 , 000 visitors since June 1 . Now do you see any connection between these two paragraphs ? Is the cause in the latter and the effect in the former ? Are the Canadians farm...

Public Control of Monopolies In its platform adopted last Saturday the Democracy of Cook county ( of which Chicago is . the seat ) , after denouncing the Allen law and all such attempts to rob the people of their natural heritages , demanded Municipal ownership and control of all street railways , gas and electric lighting facilities , and all other natural monopolies which of right belong exclusively to the whole people . The Cook County Democracy has thus drawn attention to the most pressing question of the time , and we hope it will have the courage to press it to a solution in this city where corporations which indeed are soulless , compel millions in annual tribute from the people , while poverty and want stalk through its streets . But the Insincerity of the Democrats who adopted that platform is indicated by the demand in the same platform for the repeal of the merit system in the management of public interests . Without the merit system , with the affairs of nation , city an...

The Periodical Cicada Reports from Southern Illinois indicate great damage to vegetation from the swarms of locusts that have appeared and are devouring green things of every kind . In Washington , Perry , Randolph , Madison , Pike , Scott , Jackson , Macoupin , Union and Alexander counties this swarm belongs to the thirteenyear locusts and in Douglas county the seventeen-year locusts are doing great damage . These locusts , known as periodical cicada , are among the most curious insects of which we have any knowledge . One family of them appears every seventeen years , and the other every thirteen years , with unfailing regularity . During the years when their appearance coincides they are always more plentiful than when a single brood is due , although it is a very rare thing for a brood of each family to infest the same locality . So regular is their appearance and so fixed their habits that the agricultural department has been able to tabulate their movements and predict with ab...

The Eclipse of the Boss Where is Senator Tom Piatt , and where is Senator Matt Quay in these days of the nations need , when ¦ statecraft is in high demand ? From the day when the president endorsed the congressional manifesto to Spain to the present the names of these two worthies have scarcely been seen in print . Who will be at the fore , comes the time to nominate a successor to President McKinley , or to . Gov . Black or to Gov . Hastings ? Piatt and Quay , bosses in chief of the Republican party , who hold seats in the senate of the United States for the sole purpose of dispensing patronage and running the machine ! Not a word about Cuba , or Porto Rico , or Hawaii , or the Philippines ! These doughty chiefs of misrule and corruption have no time for little matters of that sort . They do not care to assist to direct-the ship of state when dangers threaten—they prefer to boss the men who do . But they have shown in this hour of trial just what pigmies of statesmen they are ; an...

Three Great Farm Exhibits The exposition at Omaha is doing much for the farmers of the West ki the way of practical exhibits , but three of thesPexhibits are of peculiar value and are attracting the attention of every agriculturist who attends the exposition . The first of these is the model two-acre farm illustrating the Campbell method of soil culture , to which reference so often has been made in these columns . This little farm will show several crops being raised upon soil which , under the ordinary method , would scarcely grow a single crop . First plow the soil , then pack ( with a new farm implement ) the earth a little distance below the surface to keep the moisture from evaporating too rapidly , and then , by simply scratching the surface , maintain a dust blanket which conserves the moisture in a way quite wonderful to one who does not know the way to water crops with a rake , and cultivates the crop all that is required . This is the simple plan of the Campbell method , ...

No Absolute Power Alden S . Ruling ^ ¥ * f ¥ V ¥ 9 WW 9 ¥ 99 ¥¥¥¥ f 999 ¥ 9 ** 999 Ji IN A decision of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in San Francisco , a few months ago , it is said in the opinion of Judge Morrow to be well-established doctrine that the territories of the United States are entirely subject to the legislative authority of congress . They are not organized under the constitution , nor subject to its complex distribution of the powers of the government as the organic law , but are the creation , exclusively , of the legislative department , and subject to its supervision and control . The case presented related only to the right of congress to prohibit the sale of liquors in Alaska , no other matter was before the court , and it is exceedingly doubtful whether Judge Morrow anticipated the broad general doctrine that has been deduced by some from his expressions . The inference has been drawn from the language quoted above , which has been widely no...

Agriculture How to Combine Fertilizers This is the era of intensive agriculture . Farmers in all but the remotest regions have ceased to place their main dependence for improving their lands on stable manure . The extensive employment of commercial fertilizer has become a leading factor in the production of money crops . Yet it is doubtful if the year , y increasing quantity of commercial fertilizer used has afforded farmers a parallel increase in net income . The cause of this state of affairs is not difficult to discover . All good agricultural soils originally contained an abundant store of humus or vegetable matter lira semi-decomposed condition , which was mechanically mixed with the soil and held in it . Humus is to a cultivated soil what a fly-wheel is to an engine . A fly- • nheel saves waste of power and prevents sudden jolts which might prove destructive to the machinery . When soils have been cultivated for a generation or so and little or no vegetable matter retained , t...

I AM THANKFUL ! The Experience of a Batavia Woman and Her Daughter . BATAVIA , ILL .- My little daughter had eczema very badly and the medicine she took did not help her . Then we began giving her Hood s Sarsaparilla and she was soon cured . I have also taken this medicine myself and it has relieved me of rheumatism and stomach trouble . I am thankful there is such a medicine as Hood s Sarsaparilla . MARY E . NETZLY . u J » r \ ti ° ure Liver IUs easyt 0 rlOOCl S FlllS take , easy to operate .

Garden and Orchard Irrigated Fruit The principal need of all fruits h plenty of water with good drainage to carry off the surplus water in the soil , when it shall happen that a surplus exists . Mr . Hale of Connecticut has done much to advance irrigation of fruits in the East and all the time the importance of arranging to furnish fruit plantations with a full supply of water is being discussed in the West and South . Fruits are largely water and can only reach perfection in size when they have water enough to enable them to perfect their growth . There is no crop that takes so little from the soil as fruit crops They are made up of water , which is plentiful if pains is taken to get it , and sunshine and air , which comes to us without cost . As showing some of the benefits of irrigation we extract some facts from an elaborate article on the subject which recently appeared in the Lincoln ( Neb . ) Journal . The yield of plantations of currants in the Middle and Eastern States rang...

Live Stock and Dairy What the Experiments Teach In the three numbers preceding of The Farmers Voice we have published in detail the facts concerning feeding lambs at the Minnesota Agricultural College under the direction of Prof . Thos . Shaw . The tests covered a period of three years . Following are the conclusions drawn from these tests and Prof . Shaws observations : Conclusions—1 . That both range lambs and home grown lambs are well adapted for feeding . 2 . That the value of the increase made from feeding lambs in our state is more than the cost of food used in making it . 3 . That the coarse cereals which Minnesota produces are well adapted to the fattening of lambs when suitably blended . 4 . That when lambs are being fattened , considerably superior gains will be obtained when the grain food contains at least 10 per cent of oil cake . 5 . That oil cake , barley and oats suitably blended , with or without bran , make an excellent food for fattening lambs . 6 . That while goo...